Blanket for use in the art of printing.



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOSEPH E. RHODES, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

BLANKET FOR-USE .IN THE ART OF PRlNTlNG.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent/No. 705,294, dated July 22, 1902.

I Application filed July 27, 1897. Serial No. 646,092. (No model.)

T0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I,YJOSEPH E; RHODES, a citizen of the United States, residing in Boston, in the county of Sulfolk and State' of Massachusetts, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Blankets forUse in the Art of Printing, of which the following is a specification. 7

My invention has particular application to the printing of illustrations orso-called halftones, and has for its object the production of improved results overwhat has heretofore been accomplished to such a degree as to render it practicable to print such illustrations on news or common paper and to render such printing available for the daily-newspaperpress. 1

It is well known that in order toobtain the best results in the art of printing the different portions of the impinging-surface,ofthe sheet of paper or other material must be brought into such relative contact with the form that the said sheet may receive an impression which will bring out the lights and shadows of the illustration and correspond with the fine and heavy lines of the plate or types. The ordinarily-practiced method, especially in typographical printing, is to secure the necessary contact and impression by What is ordinarily termed in the art making ready --that is to say, underlaying the printing-form and overlaying the cylinder orplaten of the press with layers of paper of different thicknesses until the necessary uniformity of printing-surface and equalization of contact or impression have been obtained. While this: method has produced more or less successful results in typographical printing of illustrations upon paper having a specially-prepared hard surface, it has not been successful in printing upon certain grades of paper, especially such paper as is .used by the dailynewspaper press.

My invention consists of a blanket adapted to be placed between the paper and the cylin der or platen and intended to render the process of making ready entirely unnecessary.

. The inventionconsists in athin' sheet of rubber or analogous material formed on one of its surfaces with a very large number of exceedingly small projecting points, in shape larger at their bases than at their upper ends,

and each of said points or projections being independent of all other points. These conical points or projections are, however, close together and so small as not to be discernible to ordinary unaided vision and are in a blanket of ordinary size many thousands in number.-

In the accompanyingdrawings, Figure 1 is a sectional view of portions of a cylinder and bed, making part of a printing-press, with my improved blanket applied-to the cylinder, the conical project-ions or points being necessarily exaggerated in size. Fig. 2 is a perspective view of a small portion of my improved blanket very much enlargedf- Fig. 3 is a still more enlarged vertical section of my improved blanket.

0, represents thecylinderfb the bed, and A my blanket. The portion of the blanket lettered A is formed with many thousandexceedinglysmall points 0rprojections,approximately conical in shape, set very close together, and each point or projection being normally independent of and entirely unconnected with any and'allot'ner points. Vhile the exact shape of these points need not be strictly adhered to, they must be larger at their bases than at their upper ends for the purpose of aifording'greater individuality in pressure. The effect is a yielding but perfect contact and a perfect absorption of ink. Each individual point makes its own independent contact and yields or is compressed independently of all other points, With the result thatall portions of the impression are brought out with proper relation to each other. Thus when a massed or compact surface is presented in the plate or type the points Will be correspondingly depressed by this massed impact, the resistance increasing with the depression and compression until they in turn present a practically solid and unyielding resistance. This depression and proportionate resistance varywith the shades v or tints or lines of the plate or type, so that each line is brought out in its proper degree and an; excellent and artistic result produced. Moreover, this contact is so automatically correct in its proportionate resistance that an exceedingly sharp and distinct impression, together with a better absorption of the ink, re-

sults, thus making it possible to obtain exceedingly artistic effects upon cheap grades of paper.

As above mentioned, making ready is unnecessary. Slurring and dragging, such as often result from the use of fiat rubber, flannel, or felt blankets or tympan-sheets, are avoided by the use of this blanket.

Having thus fully described myinvention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. A blanket adapted to be applied to a cylinder or platen of a printing press or machine, and consisting of a sheet of rubber or analogous material having a surface formed with numerous small integral points or projections larger at their bases than at their upper ends whereby the area of resistance in each projection is increased in proportion to the compression of said projection, each projection being independent of and close to the adjacent projections, substantially as set forth.

2. A blanket adapted to be applied to a cylinder or platen of a printing press or machine, and consisting of a sheet of rubber or analogous material having a surface formed with numerous small integral points or projections approximately conical or conoidal in shape, each independent of but near to the adjacent points or projections, substantially as described.

3. A blanket for the impression member of a printing-press composed of a flexible backing, and numerous closely-disposed elastic projections increasing in size toward their bases.

4. In a printing-press, the combination of iinpression-producing devices, and a blanket interposed between said devices and composed of a flexible backing and numerous closely-disposed elastic projections constituting an impression-surface having independently-yielding areas, said projections increasing in size toward their bases.

5. The herein-described printers blanket com posed of a soft rubber backing having a facing of closely-disposed projections increasing in size toward their bases, said backing and projections being integral one with the other, and the extremities of said projections constituting an impression-surface having independently-yielding areas.

(5. A blanket for the impression member of a printing-press, composed of a flexible backing and numerous small and closely-disposed short and comparatively thick projections, made elastic and of such proportions as to expand transversely when pressure is applied longitudinally thereto, each projection being independent of and close to the adjacent projections.

7. A blanket for the impression member of a printing-press, composed of a soft rubber flexible backing and numerous small and closely disposed short and comparatively thick integral soft-rubber projections, made elastic and of such proportions as to expand transversely when pressure is applied thereto longitudinally, each projection being independent of and close to the adjacent projection.

8. A blanket for the impression member of a printing-press, composed of a flexible backing and numerous small and closely-disposed projections, increasing in size toward their bases, and made elastic to expand transversely when pressure is applied longitudinally thereto, each projection being independent of and close to the adjacent projection.

9. A blanket for theimpression member of a printing-press having a suitable support combined with numerous closely-disposed elastic rubber projections, each projection independent of the adjacent projections, and all so closely and uniformly disposed as that their ends constitute an impression-surface having a multiplicity of small independentlyyielding areas.

10. A blanket for the impression member of a printing-press composed of a rubber support or base formed with numerous closelydisposed elastic rubber projections, each projection independent of the adjacent projections, and all so closely and uniformly disposed as that their ends constitute an impression-surface having a multiplicity of small in dependently-yielding areas.

11. A blanket for the impression member of a printing press consisting of numerous closely-disposed elastic projections increasing in size toward their bases, combined with a suitable basic support.

12. A blanketfor the impression member of a printing-press, composed of a flexible support and numerous small and closely-disposed short and comparatively thick projections made elastic and of such proportions to expand transversely when pressure is applied longitudinally thereto.

JOSEPH E. RHODES.

Witnesses:

HENRY W. WILLIAMS, A. N. BoNNEY. 

